Sealing pad for railroad ties



April 24, 1956 J. R. SNYDER SEALING PAD FOR RAILROAD TIES Filed Aug. 12, 1952 United States Patent 2,743,058; SEALINGPADjFQRRAlLRQADTIES Jacoh'Rush'Snyder, Cleveland, Ohio Application.August12g19'52, Serial'No. 303,860 4 Claims. (Cl; 239M283 This invention relates to deformable, hollow pads or capsules adapted; to betpositioned between a railroad tie and'a tieplate for increasing the. usefuljlife of" the railroad tie. Specifically, this invention relates to ashollow deformable-sealing padwhich contains a mobile material plate, whichgcauseswood fiber softening and decay in;

the tile, and by the grinding action of sand and) grit-like particles creeping in between theplate and the tie. Due to vibrationin the rails andvtie plate this extraneous matter will form a good grinding compoundwhich rapidly wears away the wood tie and causes a deeper seating of the i p es F r her,. ns=e h iesar ur ace t e and. since th onv ntional sa fing, of: e. ie o. receiv the plate removes the heavy protective coating on the outer surface of the tie,, it is doubly important thatthe scarfed surface be sealed from moisture, whichw'ill in: duce decay.

Rrior. known. railroad tie pads. have been of the cushion ype. The, tie pad, of. he. present. nvention, howeyeri now ushionbut is inthenatureof a, deformable, caps le.

or; enyelopc: carrying afiuid which will, how to, allilow, pressure, areas for bulging or. otherwise deforming the envelope or,- capsule materialtintosealed. relationshipwith. surrounding parts. The plurality of. seals created by de-v formation of the envelope. or capsule; efiectively. prevents entrance. of: all; extraneous, matter and; moisture, between the. tie plate. and the tie.

The, pads.v of: this invention are formed from tough, impervious. sheet material and a. fluid that will how at all; temperatures encountered by. railroad ti es. Breferred sheet; materialfor forming the container or skin of the pad. are tough, pliable resins which. are not affected. by) the preservative,- material' in; the railroad tie orbyuthe fluid materialtherein. These; r s ns. ho l ema n pl a e all temperatures of operation; and'inchtderesins such; as polyethylene, polystyrene, polyamides, polyvinyls and the like. Air added desirable. propenty i's heat sealability of the resins for ease. closing the envelopeor capsule.

The, fluid in the pad should flowat all temperatures of operation, should not have a high vapor pressure at ele- Z A. further object of this invention is to provide a fluid-1 filled'railroad tie pad;

Another object of thisinvention is to provide a railroadptie p adf cornposed of animpervious envelope or cap-. sole containing a sealed-in flowable fluid capable of deforming theenvelope or capsule into sealed 'confronting relation with arailroadttie and a tie plate.

A specific objectof the invention is to provide a sealingpad for railroad ties which'willform a marginal bulge around the railroad tie plate to form a seal that Willprevent ingress of moisture and dirt between thetie plate and tie.

A t l u the o j t f. e v nt n. is to P v asealed fluid containing tie pad for railroads whereinthe skinof the pad is deformed by the fluid into full conformingrelationship with op posedtie plate and railroad tie surfaces without being punctured.

Anothen object of this invention is to provide a railroa d tie pad of slightly larger dimensions than a tie plate tobe used in; conjunction therewith so that the pad'wil 1 provide a sealing bead around. the, periphery of the tie Plate Other and further objects of this invention will be ap-.

parentto thoseskilled inthe art from the following deled. de c ipt o f. h anne e e t a n s.

hichh y; Way. f prefer ed xamp es. n y l u t this embodiments of einventio m he. drawin F u e 1 sanl m iew of the a oad. re o d ng. to this. invention Figure. 2,. is a,

padolffigureil takenalongthe lineI1I'-I'I ofFigure1,

i gursfiriss rp a ew th par s nth t z nta c s w m of. an. ssembly of road. ac Pl te, rail:

road tie and spikes, including the pad of this finvention betweenr ha e nlatsan ihe tie. I re. 4. is, a vertical oo s ct na ie hen; semhl y of Figure 3\ takenalong the line IV.I V'o f, Fig; ure 3.

Figure S is a fragmentary vertical crosgseetioqal, view taleenl alongrthe line V-V of Figure 3 and: showing the condition, of the pad, before the spike is inserted.

ure d mpl s ew. similar; o u e lu tra ng. amofiifie mbodi n heme As shown on the drawings: In- Eigures, land 2 the reference numeral 10 designates generally one form of railroad tie. pad according to, this vatedtemperatures of' operation andfshould not be denvent onh med HH omposed o a t be 11 i he ta ab e pe o tough p asti materi u h. s p y hr eneh tu e. LPmv dQS. a. p. fac and a bottom face 11b. The twofaces are joined at their nds. y heata d m g ns 1 d. f cour e, ave. teg ra l side edges. A closed. envelope or capsuleis thereby; provided; Prior to completely heat-sealing. the: en.

velope 1 1, there isvintroduced between, the faces 11a, and,

11b, a fluid material which is inert to. the polyethylene envelope, and which will. remain liquid or howahle at all; temperatures encountered in connection with railroad use o he pad T is; ma r s d n fi d at .3 and: separa esth as a 1-14 11b e e a -Po ti ns h re they; are; heaosealed together as at the. margins 12, the soli l p s d: h e o te e s 15- h s o s and .5v re posi one o s e th p e. o e the. ieplat a der; wh h he pa s. to e m t d- The spots 14 and 5am,- s zeeted. y he r s li st n t e. top. an bo om aces 1 a n -1 1 5. th ube r. env lop a he de i at d r a.-. T e h ts; em slser q a u the. spots 15. have. cen ral ape tures 5 o rqs iye the. spikes. Spike are. lw y used: ro gh. t e ap t as 15a buthe no s. it ar not. ane a ea be ause n are not always used in additionto the spikes which are used Patented, Arm. .4,. .35

ongitudin l c o se o a i o he.

3 at the spots 15. The fluid 13 as explained above, may be tar, grease, creosote, or the like material, in proper blended relation so that it remains fluid at all operating temperatures. The fluid 13 is used in just sufficient quantities so as to separate the faces 11a and 11b at the points where they are not joined.

The pad in operation, as shown in Figures 3 and 4, is positioned between a wooden railroad tie 16 and a metal tie plate 17 on which a rail 18 is anchored by means of spikes, 19. Additional spikes 20 are illustrated as mounting the tie plate on the tie 16. The tie plate 17 has the conventional four spike holes 21 for anchoring the rail to the tie plate and the tie plate to the tie but since it is conventional to only use two diagonally opposite sets of holes, only two spikes 19 have been illustrated and the other pair of holes are unused. Likewise, the tie plate has the conventional four holes 22 for anchoring of the tie plate to the tie in locations of heavy traflic, curves, and the like track arrangements. Since it is conventional to use not more than two spikes at this area only two of the holes are shown as receiving spikes 20.

The pad is positioned so that the apertured spots register with the diagonal opposite holes 21 receiving the spikes 1.9 and so that the solid spots 14 register with the diagonal opposite holes 22 receiving the spikes 20. It should be understood that spikes 19 will always be used in the indicated positions but that the spikes are only used in heavy duty track locations. Therefore, the spots 15 are apertured for receiving the spikes 19 therethrough while the spots14 are not apertured and the spikes must puncture the spots if used. The reason for not aperturing the spots 14 is to protect the railroad tie in the event that the spikes are not used as best shown in Figure 5 wherein the spots 14 covers the tie 16 across the unused spike hole 22. it will be appreciated that if the spots 14 are punctured by spikes 20, the fluid 13 will not leak out of the pad because the spot is larger than the hole 22 and the spike will only pierce the central portion of the sealed area of of the spot.

As shown in Figure 4 the pad when squeezed between the tie plate and tie will follow all of the contours of the plate and tie surfaces with the fluid 13 flowing to all recesses for filling these recesses. The top face of the tie 16 is usually scarfed at 16a to receive the plate 17 and the scarfing tool frequently leaves uneven surfaces such as those illustrated at 23. As shown, the recesses under the plate 17 provided by these uneven surfaces 23 will be filled by fluid flowing into the recesses and cans ing the pad to bulge at these points.

As also shown in Figure 4 the tie has a bored spike hole 24 aligned with one of the unused holes 21 in the plate 17. Fluid will also flow in the pad to form a bead or bubble 25 sealing the holes 21 and 24. A similar bead or bubble 26 is formed in the unused spike hole 22.

Excess fluid in the pad 10 will be squeezed to the marginal periphery of the pad to form a raised bead 27 around the entire periphery of the plate 17. This bead 27 tightly seals the peripheral edge of the plate and the margin of the scarf area 16a of the tie 16 so that dirt cannot enter under the plate.

If spikes are placed in the unused holes 21 and 22 of the plate to puncture unsealed portions of the pad, the bubble or head such as 25 and 26 will be broken and fluid will flow therefrom to coat the surrounding areas. However, the peripheral seals 27 and the filled voids 23 will not be disturbed because the fluid will be trapped therein by the collapse of the pad between the mating faces of the plate and the tie. Puncture of the pad at these points is, therefore, not deleterious.

In the embodiment shown in Figure 6, the pad 10a is formed from the same tube 11 as the pad 10 of Figure l and the end seals 12 close the end of this tube in the same manner as Figure 1. However, the pad 101: is equipped with additional spots to register with all of the holes in all) a tie plate. Thus, in addition to the apertured spots 15 and the nou-apertured spots 14, the pad 10a has another pair of spots 28 to register with the spike holes 21 that were unused with the pad 10 and a second set of spots 29 to register with the unused spike holes 22 in the plate shown in Figure 3.

From the above description it will, therefore, be understood that this invention provides a railroad tie hollow pad containing a liquid which remains flowable at all temperatures to which the pad will be subjected in operation. The pad is sealed but is readily deformable in full conformity with opposing tie and tie plate surfaces. When the pad is squeezed the liquid will flow to the low pressure areas. The hollow pad is of larger dimensions than the tie plate to be used in connection therewith and in flowing to the low pressure areas the liquid will, therefore, form a head around the periphery of the tie plate in sealing relation with both the periphery and the tie. This seal will prevent ingress of extraneous material under the tie plate and will protect the tie from the elements and from any grinding action caused by grit particles between the tie plate and the tie. The hollow pad of this invention will preferably be equipped with sealed-off spotlike areas in registration with the holes in the tie plate to receive the anchoring spikes therethrough but such sealed areas need only be provided in registration with spike holes that are always used in anchoring the rail and the tie plate to the tie.

I claim as my invention:

1. A sealing pad adapted for protecting railroad tie plates which comprises a hollow flat pad of deformable heat-sealing plastic material, a liquid in said pad having such qualities as to be viscous under all conditions expected to be encountered, and said pad having heat-sealed spots at predetermined areas thereof sealing off said liquid from said areas.

2. A railroad tie plate sealing pad comprising a hollow flat rectangular capsule of tough polyethylene, a flowable chemically inert tar-like liquid sealed in said capsule, and seals joining opposite faces of the capsule at predetermined areas to align with holes in a tie plate for presenting flat liquid free spots to said holes, and at least some of said spots being perforated.

3. A sealing pad for a tie plate which comprises a deformable liquid-containing sealed envelope, said envelope being double walled and having oppositely disposed portions of each wall connected to form liquidfree areas, and said liquid-free areas on said envelope positioned for alignment with spike holes in the tie plate to be sealed by the pad.

4. In a rail, tie plate,'spike and tie assembly of a railroad track, the improvement of a tough. flexible, hollow plastic rectangular pad between the tie plate and tie, a flowable viscous liquid in said pad, said pad having a closed marginal portion projecting beyond the periphery of the tie plate, said liquid deforming said marginal portion into tight sealing engagement with the periphery of the tie plate, and said pad having sealed areas free from said liquid aligned with the spike holes of the tie plate to receive the spikes therethrough without puncturing the liquid-containing section of the pad.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Morner Nov. 20, 1951 

2. A RAILROAD TIE PLATE SEALING PAD COMPRISING A HOLLOW FLAT RECTANGULAR CAPSULE OF TOUGH POLYETHYLENE, A FLOWABLE CHEMICALLY INERT TAR-LIKE LIQUID SEALED IN SAID CAPSULE, AND SEALS JOINING OPPOSITE FACES OF THE CAPSULE AT PREDETERMINED AREAS TO ALIGN WITH HOLES IN A TIE PLATE FOR PRESENTING FLAT LIQUID FREE SPOTS TO SAID HOLES, AND AT LEAST SOME OF SAID SPOTS BEING PERFORATED. 